Is this abnormal for 4th grade homework?

@ossobuco,

Mo doesn't have trouble at home. He has a learning disability.

@boomerang,

The Catholic school board one district over from us dropped the time to 40 minutes "on average" in the 2009-2010 school year. They were considered real wild as they dropped kindergarten homework completely in that year.

http://www.dpcdsb.org/CEC/Students+and+Parents/Homework+Policy/

your board probably has a similar outline available

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@ehBeth,

Probably because the Catholics run all the good sports programs (at least around here they do -- Mo plays for the Catholic school team).

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

School started last week.

How did Mo feel about going back to school ?

boomerang wrote:

Mo's assigned teacher had a baby 30 minutes before the first day of class so he has had one substitute or another for the last two weeks. The main sub has never taught before -- she did her internship at Mo's school last year -- but she was "hand-picked" by the regular teacher to run the class.

This week Mo has been assigned:

Monday -- a 20 word spelling list, practice daily, test on Friday; reading 30 minutes each day
Tuesay -- 4 pages of English worksheets, due Friday.
Thursday -- A one page book report, due Friday.

This schedule will be repeated for the duration.

Like most kids, Mo has other things on his schedule
(school 6 hours 5 days a week, football for 2.5 hours 3 nights a week plus a game on Saturdays, sleep, eating, relaxing)
and this homework load is wicked.

Tell him to invoke his rights under the 13th Amendment:
" I 'm not your slave ! "
(He can then challenge them to dock his salary.)

boomerang wrote:

I'm a big believer in athletics but I'm even considering making him drop football.
The problem with this is that getting to go to football is his chief motivator in getting the homework done without a big hassle.

Mo's been a real trooper getting it done but I'm a little worried. He's exhausted.

Anyway...

Does 1+ hours of homework a night seem like an absurd amount of homework for 4th grade?

Yes; have him invoke his 8th Amendment rights (no cruel and unusual punishment)

Get him a good lawyer !

David

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@boomerang,

But some do have trouble at home. People in 4th grade vary, and many of those are not disabled, per se.

I know Mo has learning disability, and I don't have a clue how to solve learning for him, and am interested.. and geez, I know he has support at home. Do you figure I haven't read for four + years?

Part of me thinks that 1/4 th of my class had that, at least 1/4th, and then from my reading of your posts, I do get the Mo has serious disability.

You ask what is normal? We answer.

I don't know how to help Mo a lot -

I am confused how he can make it in the present school system.
I figure he is actually very bright.
I read to learn on this, plus I care how he does.

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Ha! Thanks for giving me a laugh on an otherwise stessed out and overwheling day!

The kids tease him about his sometimes unusual attire, just imagine what might happen if he showed up to class with his own attorney!

But in truth I kind of do agree with you in a weird way.

The scary part is that I'm beginning to understand why my sister allowed her kid to drop out after the 5th grade (he's 17 and in college now and doing great).

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@ossobuco,

Sorry. I misinterpreted your post.

I'm a bit ..... flattened..... these days.

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@boomerang,

I would be too. I think Mo will be fine, he's a natural learner, but all this mishugas is in the way. I'd just like him not to be scared of stuff.

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@boomerang,

That's true around our area too! Bishop Mitty high school (about 2 miles from where we live) always seem to have good sports teams, and win their fair share of games.

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@boomerang,

Sounds proper at 4th grade level.

We had reports book , spelling and vocabulary (definition to each spelling word) weekly. 3rd grade words included bicycle, church (those stuck in my head) and finger and admire seem raher simple words. Those worksheets seem like a new fangled idea, yet pages of 4 total doesn't seem too brutal, it's a sheet a day, We did have essays though and creative writing (there was a sci-fi tale I wrote which earned me a nice blue sticky star.)

We also had some math, 4th grade brought us long division (which I still can't do) but it was part of regular homework, followed the next mooring with victims going to the board and writing out the problem and solution. We had a history book as well (a nice drawing of that Balboa guy standing in the Pacific Ocean). They weren't keen on the sciences though.

In addition to school work and homework, there were household chores (dishwashing, vacuuming and dusting a random room- we picked a slip of paper from a cookie tin and collecting the laundry off the clothesline) the tasks varied depending on where I was located. In the city we also got sent for the dry cleaning pickup, up north we had to rake leaves, mow a lawn.

4th and 5th grade I had after school violin lessons a few times week (I still can't play a violin)

Then again, I rarely did my homework and spelling came easy for me as did writing reports, (I did my 10th grade Economics term paper on a Saturday morning (music of the Great Depression))

At various intervals there were animals to tend to- walk a dog or two, feed the gerbils, bury the gerbils, clean the bird cages, etc. etc.

Sorry the kid is having a tough time with subs. that sounds like my 2nd grade experience, it straightened out about May when we got a perm. teacher., it teaches a lesson to work your best no matter who you work for.

I have no idea how long homework took, in the rare instances I bothered with it, I could complete it before dinner (on non after school activity nights) In the city that meant between 3:30 and 6:00 P.M. and included setting a dinner table or some other task, every night. My uncle believed in a good work ethic. Keep in mind, the routines learned now will help your child in the future as he learn to apply himself.

Along way the he will learn time management.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of learning to apply ones self early, the lesson lasts a lifetime.

(It scares me much how I remember)

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@Sturgis,

We believe in a good work ethic too, Sturgis. Mo has many chores in addition to his schoolwork. They're hard chores too - stacking firewood, for example. I think this kind of thing is very important.

And yes too to "do a good job no matter who you work for". We use the example of "You don't have to like everyone and everyone doesn't have to like you." when Mo gets crazy about some particular person.

We dropped music lessons in favor of sports but Mo really wants to go back to music class. I have no idea of how we'd fit it in so it won't be happening for a while.

You do remember a scary amount! I can only dream of such a memory.

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It's 8:30 and I finally have everyone clean and fed and we still have a half hour of reading to do so I need to get after it.

I think I'm beginning to understand why our state only has a 60% graduation rate. If the 15 minute a year thing is true that means there would be three hours of homework a night by 12th grade.

6 hours of school, plus 3 hours of homework, plus 1/2 hour of chores, plus 2 or 3 hours of extracirricular activities makes too long a day for any kid.

Add in 8 hours to sleep and you only get about 4.5 hours to yourself on any given day. No adult would do that without a fat paycheck waiting for them at the end of the week.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

Ha! Thanks for giving me a laugh on an otherwise stessed out and overwheling day!

The kids tease him about his sometimes unusual attire,

My cousin, Norma, says that she is still in pain from that in her memory.
About 70 years ago, her mother (my aunt) coerced & extorted her
into the mother 's idea of correct attire, with the same effect.
Norma was not happy.
She did not have good legal counsel.

boomerang wrote:

just imagine what might happen if he showed up to class with his own attorney!

I remember a movie about a kid who showed up with his own bodyguard
to defend him from bullies. (That 's what lawyers do, kinda in another way.)

boomerang wrote:

But in truth I kind of do agree with you in a weird way.

The scary part is that I'm beginning to understand why my sister allowed her kid to drop out
after the 5th grade (he's 17 and in college now and doing great).

I understand; truly, I am a kindergarten dropout.
(I never got my degree in tin-can-telephone.)
Undoubtedly, that is Y the imposter keeps accusing me of ignorance.

David

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

We believe in a good work ethic too, Sturgis.
Mo has many chores in addition to his schoolwork.
They're hard chores too - stacking firewood, for example. I think this kind of thing is very important.

And yes too to "do a good job no matter who you work for".

WHATEVER's worth doing
is worth doing WELL;
'cause it might be important.
U never can tell.
So no matter how little it seems at the start,
if u do it, then do with ALL of your HEART!

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I have bright 9 year old girl and an autistic 11 year old boy both have had 45 minutes to an hour fifteen minutes worth of homework 4 nights a week with reading 20-30 minutes everyday since 3rd grade.

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@boomerang,

boomerang wrote:

It's 8:30 and I finally have everyone clean and fed and we still have a half hour of reading to do so I need to get after it.

I think I'm beginning to understand why our state only has a 60% graduation rate. If the 15 minute a year thing is true that means there would be three hours of homework a night by 12th grade.

6 hours of school, plus 3 hours of homework, plus 1/2 hour of chores, plus 2 or 3 hours of extracirricular activities makes too long a day for any kid.

Add in 8 hours to sleep and you only get about 4.5 hours to yourself on any given day. No adult would do that without a fat paycheck waiting for them at the end of the week.

You are a Mom you do it everyday

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Quote:

football for 2.5 hours 3 nights a week plus a game on Saturdays

Isn't that rather a lot of football?

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@contrex,

He might get fatigue of the foot.

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@contrex,

Depending on the length of the Saturday game, it's still less than double the time spent on homework.

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I'm doing my internship as a school counselor right now in my next-to-last semester to graduate with Master of Arts in School Counseling. I get a lot of exposure to real live junior high students regularly (since I have no children, this is my only claim to being qualified to speak on matters of the education of our youth).

I think 2 1/2 hours of football practice is an awful lot for a 9-10 year old kid.
I don't think the amount of homework you said is being assigned is excessive.
I think it's really easy for you as a parent to unconsciously convey to a 9-10 year old that you think he is being unfairly treated, and I think that attitude could affect his being able to process the stuff he's got to do.

I think the concern about "inexperienced teachers" may well be misplaced - there is no reason to assume, from what I've seen, that more experience as a teacher in our public school system necessarily equates to more effective teaching.

I think the concern about "today's standards" sucking also might be a little misplaced, because as we speak, South Korean kids are starting to learn english in first grade, and our kids are exposed to Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as fine American authors. In other words, our standards need to be raised high, held high and enforced if we don't want to get our asses kicked academically from a world standpoint.

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Is this abnormal for 4th grade homework?

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